


The Way We Fall

by SunlightOnTheWater



Series: Wolf At The Door [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossroads Deals & Demons, Demon Sam Winchester, Episode: s02e02 Everybody Loves a Clown, Episode: s04e01 Lazarus Rising, F/M, Gen, Hellhounds, Sam 'Boy King of Hell' Winchester, Sam Winchester's Demonic Powers, Temporary Amnesia, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2014-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 10:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunlightOnTheWater/pseuds/SunlightOnTheWater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>It was a good deal Dean.</em> Those words and the not so miraculous return of his father are cold comfort to Dean Winchester. His brother's traded his soul in a fit of guilt, the apocalypse is nigh, and the angels have work for him to do. But somehow, somewhere, a demon is rising. One that could throw off Heaven and Hell's plans for good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way We Fall

It had been two years to the day now. Two years since he'd told his little brother that he was just "too little, too late." Two years since Sam had made the deal that gave Dean back his father but took his younger sibling to Hell. He could feel the crumpled piece of paper in his pocket, the note Sam had left him before he'd slunk away from Bobby's house to make the deal. Dean had hoped, when he'd found the note, that he would be fast enough to stop his little brother from making the biggest mistake of his entire life. Instead he'd arrived to hear him brother take his last breath and to see the crossroads demon smirking above his brother's shredded body. John had knocked on Bobby's front door, covered in ash but somehow looking just the same as he always had, two days after Dean had been forced to burn the body of his little brother. He'd tried to undo the deal, or even trade himself for his little brother, but every crossroad demon he met simply laughed and claimed they had what he wanted.

Explaining to John what had happened to his youngest son had quickly turned from a pain filled conversation to a blame game shouting match that led to Bobby kicking them both out and not talking to them for six full months. By that time John and Dean had fought twice more and then split apart by mutual agreement. This night would be the first time they'd seen one another in almost two full years. Dean wasn't looking forward to the reunion. He slid a hand into the pocket of his jacket, feeling for the crumpled note that was all his little brother had left behind. He had it memorized by now; didn't even have to look at the ragged and worn paper to know what it said.

_Dean,_

_I'm sorry. About everything. You're right; what I was trying to do was just too little, too late. So I'm going to fix this. I've spoken to a demon and we have the situation worked out. It's a good deal Dean. You get Dad back and I won't be able to accidentally kill anyone else like I did Mom and Dad and Jess._

_Sam_

That was it; the only explanation Dean ever got for his brother's death. It had been the worse moment of his life; worse than when Dad had traded his life for Dean's. The door to the bar opened and Dean glanced absently at it only to freeze, stunned. Bobby Singer was standing in the doorway, his tired brown eyes meeting Dean's green ones. Dean knew then, shoving his beer aside and dumping the correct amount of cash on the bar before crossing the room to join the man who had been more of a father to him and Sam than John had. Bobby led the way outside before spilling the news. "John's dead."

"How?" Dean asked, voice dead. Some voice in the back of his mind was screaming that he was the last Winchester left standing and wasn't that wonderful but he ignored it.

"Demons I think," Bobby replied grimly. "He was torn apart, both by hellhounds and, I think, human hands. I tried to interrogate the demons I caught in the past couple days but none of them could tell me a thing." Dean nodded tiredly. "Get some rest kid. We'll work on tracking down your Dad's killer in the morning." Dean nodded again, allowing himself to be lead to his vehicle. Meanwhile a figure in a brown trench cloak watched unseen, waiting until the last Winchester was asleep so they could safely communicate.

\---

He doesn't remember his name. They tell him it's Sam, call him Azazel's child and the Boy King and Lucifer's Chosen. Many have whispered in his ear, telling him secrets and trying to woo him over to their side. There was Lilith in a white dress covered in blood and empty eyes as she imitated a face he vaguely remembered loving once. Then there was Ruby, one of Lilith's lackeys who had tried to seduce him. He'd been equally fascinated and repelled by her shimmering black and tendril covered form and eventually she too had given up. Alastair had wanted nothing more than to torture him and twist him into something else, something that didn't feel, so that was okay.

Azazel had an agenda. What was left of his memories insisted that old Yellow-Eyes had always had machinations when it came to him. He hadn't liked the other demon, not a bit, but he liked the daughter. She was snarky and cold and brutally honest with him. She called him Sammy and the first time they kissed, or preformed the mockery of a kiss that was allowed in Hell, their forms sparked like lightning. It was the daughter who told him how to kill her daddy and when the Boy King of Hell rose up and destroyed his maker the demon who called herself Meg was at his side.

\---

_He was standing in front of his little brother's funeral pyre, just like he found himself most night since his brother had died. Bobby Singer had already stepped away to give him a moment alone, except this time Dean wasn't alone. Standing next to him was a man in a suit and brown trenchcoat with messy dark hair and the bluest eyes he had ever seen. "Who are you?" Dean asked, and then, without waiting for an answer, he moved to the next question. "What are you?"_

_"My name is Castiel," the figure said. "I am an angel of the Lord."_

_"Yeah," Dean snorted derisively. "Sure. And I'm the tooth fairy."_

_"That is the problem with you," Castiel replied. "You have no faith."_

_"If you're looking for faith then you wanted my little brother," Dean replied, his voice breaking slightly as he turned back to the fire. After a moment he glanced back to where Castiel had been standing only to find he was alone once again._

\---

Lilith escaped from Hell. He heard the news almost the moment it happened thanks to Meg's connections. The Boy King had been building connections of his own but his network didn't have a chance of being as large as that of princess of Hell Meg's. "She's planning the apocalypse," Meg finally admitted after a century of prodding. "She'll pull Alastair out to go after your brother."

"I have a brother?" he asked and she sighed.

"Alastair really did a number on you if you can't even remember your precious big brother," Meg sneered, frustrated. He felt equally frustrated but he didn't push her any further, not willing to lose his only ally over his memories.

\---

Research about the demon who killed his father turned up remarkably little. At least until Ruby. The demon showed up dressed in a dark haired girl with a sneer that was almost a smile. Dean and Bobby were pausing at a coffee shop to do some research on the way to Singer Salvage when she sauntered over to their table. "Hello boys," she purred, flashing black eyes at them. "I heard you were looking for the demon that killed John Winchester."

They hadn't been willing to work with her at that point but as the days passed on Dean grew desperate enough to summon her. With a self-satisfied smirk on her face, Ruby sauntered into the circle and proceeded to spill the one name Dean thought he'd never hear mentioned again. _Sam Winchester_. He drunk himself to sleep that night and Castiel showed up in his dreams.

_"Dean," the creature, and at this point Dean was beginning to entertain the idea that he might be an angel."We have need of you."_

_"I just found out my brother came back as a demon and killed my father," Dean said brokenly. "What could you possibly need from me?"_

_"When Lucifer rebelled he was thrown into the Cage," Castiel responded. "The Cage is locked by seals set in place by God at the dawn of the age of humanity. Lilith is leading an army of demons to free Lucifer. She only needs to break sixty-six of the seals to free him. You are the Righteous Man, Dean Winchester. We need you to fight, to help us stop Lucifer from rising."_

_"Just leave me alone," Dean retorted, despondent. We he glanced over a moment later Castiel was gone._

\---

Lilith pulled Alastair out of Hell a century after Meg let it slip that he'd had a brother. That was when he'd heard the name; _Dean Winchester_. The name provided a backlash of memories that left the demon who was once Sam Winchester reeling. When he came to Meg was watching him with hellhound puppies curled in her arms. "I brought you a present," she told him without preamble or malice, which was as close to loving as a demon could come. "Your own pack." She placed the pups on the ground where they sniffed around him cautiously. The first one to approach was also the only female. She sniffed him and then lapped at him with a blood red tongue, tail wagging.

"Jess," he christened her and Meg stared at him strangely. Sam didn't know why. He remembered Dean, remembered arguments with his father but he didn't remember anyone named Jess, just a vague sense of adoration for the person who'd once been attached to the name. "Orpheus," he added, addressing this to the largest hellhound pup. "And Caliban."

"Interesting names," Meg drawled and Sam knew that if she had a human body she would be rolling her eyes. "Your lost love, the man who went down into Hell for love, and Shakespeare's monster." Sam didn't reply, keeping his attention on the pups. Realizing she wasn't going to get an answer, she huffed and vanished, leaving Sam alone with his new companions.

\---

Ruby showed up over and over again, sometimes helping with hunts and sometimes just smirking at his efforts. "Lilith's awful eager to meet you Dean," she told him once at a bar. "Especially after she found out you turned the precious angels down."

"So he really was an angel," Dean had mused drunkenly. Ruby had just laughed at that. That was the first night he'd ended up sleeping with her and even though regret burned through him every time he thought of that night it didn't stop him from repeating the action again and again. He'd known things were going to change when he'd talked to Ruby, let the demon bitch into his life. What he hadn't expected was for Bobby Singer to step out of it. He should have known better. The man who had practically been a father to Dean hadn't approved of Ruby or his choices so in the end the older man had walked away. Now all Dean had left was Ruby and her promise that they could stop his little brother from hurting any more people.

\---

The hellhounds grew up fast. Within a century they were full grown and following Sam's every command. He trained them in Latin, seeing that he was extremely comfortable with the language, another aspect of his life as a human he didn't remember. He was in the middle of an unnecessary training session with his hounds when Meg suggested he leave Hell. "You remember your brother, right?" she questioned and Sam nodded. "Well he's been having a difficult time of it. Lilith is breaking seals and she's got Ruby dragging Dean straight into the middle of it."

"So?" Sam questioned disinterestedly despite the fact that part of him was screaming that Ruby and Lilith shouldn't be screwing with _his_ brother.

"So I think it's about time you remind her who should be ruling Hell," Meg prodded. "Preferably before Alastair drags your big brother's soul to the rack." Sam couldn't stop the growl that rumbled in his chest at that thought and Meg smirked.

"How do I get out?" he demanded and Meg smirked wider.

"Leaving your babies to rest for a while Sammy. We have work to do."

\---

Castiel watched as a funnel of black smoke escaped from one of the escape hatches from Hell. His expression was thoughtful as the demon that had once been Sam Winchester possessed and unwary watcher, taking over the young man's body warily, as if trying not to break something precious. His superiors claimed that Sam Winchester was irredeemable, that his body belonged to Lucifer and he would eagerly give the archangel consent to use his former form the instant the disgraced archangel rose. He had believed it too until the demon Ruby had told Dean that his little brother had brutally murdered John Winchester when Sam had still been in Hell. Now, watching the demon try to work around the human soul so as not to harm it, the angel wondered if his superiors had really been telling the truth.

\---

Ruby was worried. Word had just reached her that Sam Winchester, supposed Boy King of Hell, had risen to earth. If Sam had any memories, or even if he remembered, that Dean was his brother then she was in big trouble. Sam certainly remembered her and he didn't like her. He'd send her screaming back to Hell, at best, and Lilith would murder her. At worst, Sam would slowly and painfully destroy her existence. She shuddered and turned her gaze to Dean's sleeping form next to her, considering frantically what to do next. She needed to get out of town fast, before Sam tracked Dean down and ended her. Shuddering slightly at the thought she pulled her clothes back on and headed for the door. Dean could deal on his own. She was going to get while the getting was good.

\---

Breathing, heartbeat, physical form. Sam Winchester was back, powerful, and annoyed. The days leading up to the apocalypse were about to get a whole lot more dangerous. 


End file.
